Semper Opera, Dresden

In December 2003 it was my first time when I visited this great opera house. It´s a very beautiful building with great architecture - a lot of marble and glamour - and if it possible for you - make a visit to one of the operas of Mozart, Beethoven...

the operahouse is beautiful from the inside and the outside! A night at the opera would truly be something special, but taking a tour through the Semper Oper might be a great alternative as well!

The Semperoper has suffered greatly from the flood, but has re-opened meanwhile!

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Though an opera house existed on this site as early as 1678 it was not until 1838 that work began on Gottfried Semper’s Renaissance style masterpiece which took three years to complete. He relied much on Roman architecture in his design and it became noted for its premiers of many of Wagner’s works. Fire unfortunately destroyed the building during Semper’s exile but he was awarded its redesign nonetheless. His son oversaw the building until its completion in 1878. Another tragic chapter in its history arrived with its total destruction during WWII bombings. It even more tragically did not reopen again until 1985. One of its more noted features is a statue by Johann Schilling of a panther drawn chariot with Greek gods Dionysus and Ariadne at the helm. The same sculptor did the equestrian statue of the Saxon King John which was added in 1889.

Tours are available daily but are dependent on shows in the theater itself. They are in German only but you can get a text version in many languages and for only 5 Euros it is a way to see the impressive interior if you do not like or cannot afford opera.

When the opera house designed by Gottfried Semper opened in 1841, it was hailed as the 'most beautiful theatre in the world'. Beauty does not bring luck, however, because the theatre burned down in 1869. It took nine years to rebuild and it then lasted until 1945, when the massive allied air raid on Dresden destroyed it completely. It was another 20 years before anyone even thought of rebuilding it, but then the East German authorities made the project a priority and the Semperoper reopened again in 1985. It now stands as the symbol of Dresden's rebirth.

This opera house was also reconstructed since the 1945 bombing. The building has wide staircases at the side and has double columns and lined arched windows. The centre has the triumphant arch with crowning panther drawn quadriga.

Apparently there were many opera houses built in Dresden with many famous conductors, composers and singers performing in Dresden.

The original opera house had acoustics even better than those in La Scala in Milan.

Nine operas by Richard Wagner were performed here.

Semper Opera - Dresden's beautiful opera house. It's a great building, round-ish in shape - and with an interesting mosaic under then entrance vault. The dominant colour is gold, even even if it was a snowy day when I was there, it was glittering from the distance. I have heard the Opera House of Dresden is very well known, so guess sometimes I'll need to plan another trip there

Here is a close up of the front entrance of the Semper Opera House.

I arrived on a Monday and I originally wanted to be there Saturday. Sometimes plans are hard to keep when traveling abroad.

Anyway, most of the buildings were closed on Mondays, so I did not get to go inside. So, also forgive me if I don't get the buildings right the first time or the second time.

I guess I just MUST GO BACK. :o)

Here it is again, the most famous Semper Opera house.

It was built 1838-41 by Gottfried Semper.

It was gutted by fire in 1869 and rebuilt 1871-78. in High Renaisance style according to his son Manfred.

The house was completely destroyed in 1945 and reopened 1985 after extensive reconstruction.

It is the only theatre in Germany that bears the name of its architect.